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Thoughts and Review
The Joy of Wargaming is a YouTube channel run by one Mr. Wargaming (definitely not by Jon Mollison) which specializes in showcasing different wargames, primarily in the 2mm to 15mm scales, as well as the hobby (painting, assembly, ...) surrounding them. The host is a talented miniature artisan who loves wargaming and loves the hobby around it: both acquisition and implementation of the models and rulesets which they support.
I found The Joy of Wargaming via Wargame Culture (and actually linked to The
Joy of Wargaming (hence abbreviated JoW) in an aside panel of
my review of Wargame Culture) and as such, while JoW has a dozen playlists that run the gamut of
different games (Chainmail,
Dragon Rampant,
Gaslands, ...) and diverse subjects (streaming conversations,
painting,
reviews, ...), to cater to my core competency and primary purpose, I am going to
focus exclusively on the applicability of JoW's Chainmail videos to running
and playing OSR-style campaigns. As always, however - be not contained by my
editorial constraints if your interests exceed them. At the end of the day -
we're here to game.
What I Like Lots
First and foremost - above all else - I appreciate the focus of the playlist
on learning Chainmail. The host presents the game through the lens of
someone who is gaining mastery - he starts having never played, reading the
rules, and trying to put them to use solo at the table. Then, over each
successive video, more rules, more complexity, more elements of the game are
introduced: building on the lessons he's mastered in previous episodes. It
plays almost literally like an academic class would: starting with the basics
and working its way into advanced features, intent to culminate in system
mastery. This is extremely conducive to learning: so, someone seeking
to learn Chainmail (which, although I don't agree with all of the rulings he
makes, that's all good - the important part is fundamentals, and he explains
what he's doing and why along the way) would be able to do so very easily
through this program. Does he make mistakes along the way? Yes - he
does. But he highlights them, identifies them, and corrects them in subsequent
videos: building up his own knowledge,
For Further Watching
In addition to
Chainmail battles, of course, Mr. Wargaming runs a plethora of other games -
some larger and some smaller in scale. Consider, if you have some time,
Fighting Sail.
While not OSR - neither tonally nor mechanically nor intended
to be - Fighting Sail is a naval battles wargame which I thoroughly enjoyed
watching (maybe from my background in real sailing, maybe from my pent up
desire from never getting to field my old
Battlefleet Gothic
miniatures) but which stood out to me because of its satisfying take on
points of sail.
That perennial question regarding having a
pirate-themed RPG?
Play Fighting Sail - then zoom in and
do your boarding actions or land-adventures with your preferred
role-playing system!inspiring the viewers to verify based on their own experience or
understanding in the same breath. Thus - the successes and failures, both,
contribute to the educational value of this series.
Second - something that I have experienced and enjoyed in my own wargaming background - the Joy of Wargaming highlights how Chainmail can fit into an ongoing campaign: both from the perspective of a map based wargame and from the perspective of an ongoing tabletop RPG.
To speak to the use of Chainmail in a map based campaign - the first half dozen videos in the series are learning the game. One off battles that highlight how to make the game work. However, after these have been established, the nature of the videos changes: following instead a crusade on the part of a fictional fantasy polity, the Broman Empire, to retrieve a lost artifact from the orcish wild lands to the north. Over the next handful of videos, the host then follows the campaign - alternating between planning and book-keeping and playing battles - illustrating organically an emergent narrative wherein the Broman forces seek out their long-lost prize. This reminds me of hex or map based games I'd played - Mordheim: I'm looking at you! - where warbands would maneuver around, seize and release objectives, trying to gain the advantage outside the battlefield, before the game was fought: because the worst fight to get into is one that's totally fair.
This bleeds over into the secondary point - the use of mass combat
(specifically Chainmail) in a role playing campaign. Chainmail is not uniquely
suitable to one-offs: although there are suggested point values for balancing
forces in the booklet, they are essentially optional: if you (the player) send
a small force, the referee is under no obligation to match you with a fairly
balanced force to oppose; similarly, if you (again, player) send an
overwhelming force, the referee is bound to respond according to the ability
of the enemy: if they are unable to match you on the field, they either march
into failure or must respond with unconventional tactics or otherwise try to
find their own advantage. The incorporation of Chainmail battles into an RP
campaign - which Joy of Wargaming does: providing proxy resolution to some
battles submitted from an AD&D campaign of a friend - promotes domain
play: it justifies the 30-300 or 40-400 no. appearing results that appear in
some of the monster entries as handle-able by a planning party; and lastly, it
allows the characters to graduate: to become something more than themselves -
being heroic in their upper levels, but also retaining an element of mortality
in that even Conan can be overcome with enough bodies piled upon him.
Finally, I want to cite the host. I like the host. He has a genuine enjoyment
for the hobby, he seems to have an enjoyment of involving his audience in the
game and spreading the wonderful infection of miniature wargaming to people
around him, and he is open and encouraging of people who want to get engaged
to get engaged. Admittedly, his humor isn't for everyone - especially certain
elements of the hobby who are unable to detect humor targeting talking points
about which they, themselves, are passionate - but nothing I have seen as of
this writing could be ascribed to malice of forethought. If anything - the
host exudes a positive vibe: one which any hobby would benefit from flooding
itself with.
What I Like Less
Regarding the intrinsic character of the host - and regarding the infusion of
external games into the playlist - The Joy of Wargaming and Mr. Wargaming,
himself, falls in with the BroSR: evidenced by his published videos on
winning at RPGs. If this bothers you, cool. Simply avoid those videos and focus on the gaming
content. The BroSR persona does not bother me. While I admit, I don't
ascribe to all of the tenants of gaming presented,
his take on "rule zero,"
for example, for those who follow
the Clerics Wear Ringmail podcast, is actually pretty close to
the Jason compromise and the actual advice he gives is either
solid or at minimum aimed at improving the game you, the viewer, is
playing.
So - again - if it bothers you? Watch the Chainmail stuff and be happy.
If that is curious to you? Wander out into the wider pool of videos.
Secondly - a more tangible complaint - in the building of community, in the invitation of friends to participate in the campaign, some battles are outsourced - their results reported and incorporated into the book of the campaign. This is great for the community - this is interesting, from the perspective to promote the patron-play concept that is championed by BroSR proponents: illustrating not only that it can, but how it does, work - but in the process, it does mean that not all of the Chainmail games are illustrated or demonstrated to the same extent as the in-house videos and also that some battles are run in systems other than Chainmail. In terms of following the campaign as a story - this detracts none: the host will argue, and I will agree, that it introduces an element of uncertainty, an element of change, that affects the narrative in ways that aren't something a lone referee will accomplish. However, it does mean we, as the potential learners of Chainmail, are one video shy in each case when attempting to accomplish our goal.
That said - fortunately for us, the audience - the benefit of the other videos
is sufficient to teach how to play: such that, later on in the series, when
the focus is more about the campaign, managing the campaign, and the story
that has emerged, we've learned the game fairly well and become engrossed in
the actual happenings. Additionally, another benefit of the community aspect:
Mr. Wargaming, who is a larger channel by comparison to most of the channels
I've seen using Chainmail, is consistently involving other channels, other
creators, and as such: we who may not have been exposed to those creators,
those personalities, otherwise are exposed to them - serving to broaden
our horizons, so long as our horizons are looking for expansion.
In Conclusion
To conclude, I would rate the Joy of Wargaming: Chainmail as Chainmail - because that's what he's playing in the playlist I'm talking about! Ha! That joke hasn't gotten old yet.
But in seriousness - if you want to expand your knowledge of the Chainmail
game and if you want to consider introducing mass battles as an element of
domain management into your home TTRPG campaign, The Joy of Wargaming channel
is a great place to start. The videos are accessible, the content is
entertaining and edifying, and I personally look forward to each new episode -
even some of those episodes which showcase games that I don't own.
So C-Dubs: are you going to be doing any more actual role-play reviews any time soon? Yes. I'll do an OSE one next time. I promise.
Delve on readers - and thanks for reading!
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